FrannyDJ's Mardi Gras Parade

by Gemma Cleanslate

The Krewes of New Orleans are getting ready for all the parades that go from now until Fat Tuesday. That day, Mardi Gras, in French will be the last day of celebration before Lent and the biggest parade takes place that day in many cities in the world. New Orleans is the site of the special Mardi Gras in the USA. There is nothing like it . Frannydj brings that parade into Second Life every year. One of her invites says:

“FEBRUARY IS MARDI GRAS MONTH !!!

"Grab your Krewe and head on down to the Mardi where FrannyDJ Dean brings the French Quarter to life.

"Be the star of the parade as you glide gown New Orleans famous Bourbon Street on any of the 103 interactive floats with the best of SL's animations and including props to wear in this spectacular parade.

"Visit the Hot Clubs and restaurants on Bourbon Street. Don't miss the thrilling carnival rides. The party never stops here."

Her floats and decorations on the region are outstanding. This year is the 6th year to see and interact with the ground and the flying floats and there are 103! I put on my new outfit , grabbed my crown , my umbrella and put on all  my beads and hurried over. The first thing I did was get a piece of King Cake, a delicious part of the festivities, and then  danced down Bourbon street to hop on the various floats and become part of the parade.

Next I stopped in a shop get a pink daiquiri and danced my way into some of the clubs lining the street. I found some couples dancing in a few of them but most were just dancing in the street so I joined in there.

Hoodoo Voodoo Man (Karmic Aeon) was standing on the street looking like the real voodoo people you pass in the city.

The side streets behind the parade route are lined with builds that might be found on the streets of New Orleans. Take a short walk through the alley. They are charming and peaceful and some are open to walk in. Stop into the Voodoo shop near the theater for freebies!

The Carnival is open and there are loads of games and rides to enjoy so walk through to other side of the lovely park and have some fun there too.

Parties take place on the steamboat during the days leading up to Mardi Gras which falls this year on February 25. Frannydj was up on the deck getting ready. You have until then to visit , party and check out the fun! Join the Fame Group for more information.  

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Angels%20of%20Desire/55/177/1163

Gemma Cleanslate

Samedi Gras: New Toulouse Pulls it off Again

By Klaus Bereznyak

True to form, New Toulouse dished up another resplendent "Samedi Gras" celebration earlier this month, on Saturday the 10th February. The carnival season coincides with that held in New Toulouse's RL shadow, the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, and it is always well attended, attesting to the historical status of this sim in SL and the popularity of the event.

Along with the annual New Toulouse hunts, it's one of the highlights of the year. Festivities begin with events in the week leading up to Samedi Gras: Masked balls, float decorating parties and parades come to a head when the authentically modeled French colonial streets are hung with purple, green and gold, and play host to an epic float parade. This is typically a huge technical challenge, tackled with dedication and humor by the Krewe captains.

The parade was scheduled to kick off at Noon, by which time the floats were lined up along Shotgun row, with their horses, unicorns, pegasus and various mythical draft animals rearing to go. The crowds kept piling in, at least 50 avs packing into the sim before the parade had even started. I was riding with the fiery Krewe des Flambeaux for the second year running, drawn by a pair of white horses ably driven by long-standing talooster, Francesca Alva.

Last year, the start was very much delayed with technical difficulties but, this year, while there was lag and a few crashes, we got moving around 12:20 amid cheers from the bystanders - "Laissez les bons temps rouler!" Residents, turned out on their porches and balconies to watch the parade throw beads and offer refreshment to the revelers as they passed.

DJ Outlaw kept up the patter and filled the airwaves with a steady stream of spicy New-Orlenian classics that made the whole event feel as close as could be to the real thing.

Apart from some interesting amalgamations of floats piling up at points along the route, and minor damage to some buildings on street corners that proved a little too tight for the tottering vehicles, the parade was successfully concluded around 1pm, with floats drawing up around the town square and krewes disembarking for a party in the park. The Mayor of New Toulouse, Henri Godenot, was there to greet them, and it was a chance to socialize and admire the effort that had gone into some of the costumes.

A good time was had by all, and it was gratifying to see that the affection for this unique sim and its events is still alive and kicking.

Links
New Toulouse Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/groups/696411@N23/
SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/New%20Toulouse/196/131/23

Klaus Bereznyak

Editor's Note: Among those who had a float in the parade was Baron Wulfenbach and Baronin Zantabraxu.  Zantabraxu had a well done avatar of Tinka the Muse of Dance from the "Girl Genius" graphic novel/online comic.

Two Mardi Gras Events

By Bixyl Shuftan

Mardi Gras, also known as "Fat Tuesday" or "Carnival," is an old holiday. For Catholics and some other denominations of Christianity, it's the last day before the season of Lent, and the last chance to eat rich food before one has to give up eating it for the forty day period. Celebrated in countries with large Cathonlic populations, some cities have become known for their celebrations this time of year, in America New Orleans having by far the best well known.

In Second Life, many residents love a good party. So there were some Mardi-Gras themed parties across the Grid. One place that has them is New Toulouse, a roleplay and residential sim that has the atmosphere of 1920s New Orleans. On Monday February 16, a day before the real life Mardi Gras New Orleans celebrations, New Toulouse held their "Samedi Gras" parade at 6PM SL time.

There were numerous participants in the celebration, both as dancers in the streets and the numerous revelers on the parade floats. Among them were the "Crewe de Bast," which was feline-themed, and one by Baron Wulfenbach of the Steamlands which had a couple of his Jagers on it. It's unclear just how long the parade lasted, though the following day on the real life "Fat Tuesday," some of the floats remained at the town square, one on fire, as reminders of the revelry the night before. But for New Toulouse itself, the party was basically over. Fortunetly Natascha Randt had recorded the event for others who couldn't make it to watch.



(Click here if the video fails to play)

So where else to go? Gemma Cleanslate found out about another celebration in another New Orleans themed area. This one was high above the Snackpack sim. Unlike New Toulouse, this one was taking place throughout the day, and instead of twisting around streetcorners, this one went down one straight street. A rezzer at the store on the far end of the street would automatically rezz different floats, which would slowly go down the street, people invited to sit or dance on them. Among the floats were Wonder Woman, Xena, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spongebob Squarepants, and more.

There were also a number of false avatars around to help give the impression of a packed parade, even late at night. But both earlier on in the day and later at night, there were a number of people around. Laura Liberty, the owner of the Elizabeth Town sim, which currently housed the seasonal town of Valentine Town, was among those having fun at the Snackpack parade. Elizabeth Town had a New Orleans themed block next to Valentine Town.

On the day after Mardi Gras, the parade floats were still going, though there were only a handful of people around, presumably either people who couldn't see it the day before, or people whom truly loved Mardi Gras, and wanted to look at the parade one more time.

Besides these two parades, a number of clubs held Mardi Gras themed parties, or at least held events with the same kind of spirit. Gemma went to one such club event. The classic rock club "The Vinyl," near the SL Newser office held a "Wild and Crazy" party on Mardi Gras night.

And so "Fat Tuesday" came and went for another year. But even for those whom have to give things up for Lent, Easter is just a little more than a month away.

Pictures from Natascha Randt and Gemma Cleanslate

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes from the Krewe Bayou Parade in New Toulouse

Last weekend at the New Orleans-themed sim of New Toulouse, the Krewe Bayou "Wild and Wonderful Creatures Parade" took place.

  If the parade looked a bit like Mardi Gras, it wasn't a coincidence. This was the first event of New Toulouse's Carnival season. People of all kinds from furs to tinies to not so ordinary humans, and avatars that defied description took part. The "Oh Lord What is That" marching band was aptly named.

 Nikita Weyman described the paraders in her New Toulouse Blog, "from the very tall Trombone Creature, who set the pace, to the Toad King bringing up the rear. Paraders included tinies, chariot drivers, a kraken on horseback, equestrian butterflies, a tiny Mayor Godenot, a deep-sea diver in an aquarium, a bird-headed man, and Superman; umbrella dancers added to the magic and the color of the event."

The parade went down the streets of early 20th Century New Orleans. Some were carrying hippo balloons. February 15 was supposedly "Hippo Day" in Second Life. There were also some beads being flung around.

Yours truly did his best to keep up with the throng of people. Someone passed to me one of the hippo balloons, and a couple beads were thrown my way.

 The parade ended  at the Town Square.

 And with that, the paraders danced where they were.

There was also a video of the event made, by Natascha Rant.



(Click here if the video fails to load)

Z

Nikita stated later that evening, there was a fireworks show at the river (photo by Liza Veliz), "At nightfall, Taloosters who were not yet too drunk assembled at the city docks to ooh and aah at a spectacular fireworks display shot off from the top tier of the steamboat. There were cheers, funny comments, and admiration for the awesome display. Spectators were witness to a twenty-minute finale ..."

A great time was had by all.

Keep an eye out for Mardi Gras early next month on Tuesday March 4.

Source: www.newtoulouse.org

Bixyl Shuftan

Mardi Gras Parade at New Toulouse

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Saturday February 9th, "Fat Tuesday" came to Second Life a little early. At the New Toulouse sim, there was a Mardi Gras parade with a number of floats going down it's streets.  The parade started at Noon SL time, and the sim was crowded with over forty avatars present. There was also at least one balloon.

New Toulouse describes itself as "a private estate community based on the American City of New Orleans" from the years 1900 to 1925. The sim has a number of shops and clubs, in addition to a few vampire and magic role-players.

The floats this reporter witnessed were from one of the clubs, or referred to zombies or vampires. SL personality Holocluck Henley was among those in the parade. People around were dressed for the occasion in period clothes, as well as wearing festive masks.

With so many avatars present, there was quite a bit of lag. And so the progress of the parade was slow at times. And this reporter crashed a few times while there. But the people were in high spirits, celebrating Carnival as only Second Life can.

Mardi Gras is celebrated mainly in Catholic countries. Originally called "Carnival," it is the last day before the season of Lent begins. So "Fat Tuesday," as it came to be called in French speaking areas, was the last chance for people to eat fatty foods before having to give them up when the Lenten season started on Ash Wednesday. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras

Bixyl Shuftan

Mardi Grads Scenes in Second Life

Tuesday February 21st was Mardi Gras, also known as "Fat Tuesday," Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day, or Carnival in some places. The event is associated with costumes and parties, and in Second Life where people will sometimes use any excuse to party, naturally the day was reflected here in places.

Among the places throwing a Mardi Gras party was Madpeas.

Leading the event was Kiana Writer, with her fool's cap and "We're all mad here" tattoo.

They had a lot of fun.

Later came a Madpea group notice, "thanks to Beckie and Nomica, Kiana and all the Peas that came to dance and made it such a super Mardi Gras."

The Mardi Gras event featured in the Destination Guide took place in New Toulouse, a New Orleans style area.

When I dropped in, it was between events. There were only a few people around, but the place still seemed to take forever to rezz.

The place had a number of parade floats moving down the streets.

Anyone could ride on them.

And there were some crazy ones.

At the "Lauren Live" standup comedy show that night in Cookie, Lauren dressed the part as a Carnival showgirl.

And in the audience, SecondLie gets a closeup look at another girl.

Club Zero took on something of a Mardi Gras theme with beads being tossed around. Some girls "bared it," but others just smiled.

Just a few scenes of what happened in Second Life at Mardi Gras.

Bixyl Shuftan